Ybor City immortalized with custom sneakers

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Tampa's historic Ybor City is now immortalized in a brand new, limited edition shoe.

Sneaker lovers woke up and lined up early to make sure they got a pair.

Burn Rubber Tampa, with a location in Ybor City and its home base in Detroit, had its highly-anticipated sneaker release Saturday.

Dozens showed up hoping to snag a pair in their size.

When asked how it felt to finally have a pair in his hands, customer Chase Shiflet said, “Fantastic! I've been waiting for these for a very long time and I am super stoked to wear these.”

If you’re one of 40 who bought a pair of the Ybor City Filas, called Ybor’s Own, you can now wear the city’s culture wherever you go.

Ybor’s Own Filas were designed by the owner of Burn Rubber Tampa, Omar Ghanem.

He says he was inspired by Ybor City's historic signs.

“I thought the color scheme was kind of dope. So we took the color scheme and we put it on the shoe in different areas of the shoe and color-blocked until we came up with the right fit that we thought that was cool. We also put the coordinates of where the store is at on the insole on the shoe,” Ghanem said.

The color scheme is royal blue, maroon, yellow, and white, with black trim and laces.

“We got phone calls, social media, word of mouth, friends of friends, friends calling from as far as California and Texas trying to get somebody to wait in line or just send money for the shoe,” Ghanem said.

If you missed Saturday’s sneaker release, you might be out of luck on the Ybor’s Own Filas, but Ghanem says he plans to hold many more events like this one in the future.